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<title>Photosynthesis by SaltinesAndPeanutButter</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28144308">Photosynthesis</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaltinesAndPeanutButter/pseuds/SaltinesAndPeanutButter'>SaltinesAndPeanutButter</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Neon Genesis Evangelion</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, ritsuko is only mentioned</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 16:08:17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>441</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28144308</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaltinesAndPeanutButter/pseuds/SaltinesAndPeanutButter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
      <p>Inspired by Episode 5.</p>
    </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Photosynthesis</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Inspired by Episode 5.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The sun beat down on her back, the cool metal of the chain link fence providing a meagre yet welcome amount of relief. Another day, another handwritten note from Dr. Akagi excusing her from partaking in any type of unnecessary physical exertion. Nonetheless, she was made to change into a swimsuit and sit outside with the rest of the girls -- something about Vitamin D and looking "sickly" and "malnourished."</p>
<p>A gaggle of her peers stood against the fence on either side of her, waiting their turn and talking about something that she pretended not to hear or understand. Instead, she drew her legs up to her chest and hugged them close. She observed the grit of the concrete, how the chlorinated water splashed onto it and dried within mere minutes, and how certain areas not as privy to sunlight dried into a thin slime that would eventually grow green. Every time anyone accidentally stepped on it, they'd shriek, and she would again pretend not to hear, no matter how much it pounded against her eardrums and assaulted her focus on the cacophony of the cicadas and birds.</p>
<p>Suddenly, she felt soft flesh against her own -- someone had bumped into her. If they had apologized, she didn't acknowledge it. It was an accident. Of course it was.</p>
<p>She found herself too tired to continue gazing more than a few feet away. Her eyes fell to her toenails, and then to her legs; glowing in the sunlight. Lastly, the purple stretch marks that decorated her inner thighs. She couldn't see them right now, but they were there. So were the ones that had faded white with age. She had some on almost every area of the body that could be accurately described as fatty or fleshy.</p>
<p>She rested her chin in the valley between her knees, letting her bangs fall in front of her eyes and obscure the light reflecting from the pool, but it continued to peek through between the strands of hair. It seemed familiar, somehow, and perhaps that was why when she looked at the pool for too long she found herself unable to suppress the urge to ignore it. </p>
<p>When it was time to go, she was the first to stand up yet the last to leave. She unfolded herself gradually, bracing herself against the chain link fence for support. She stood up slowly, her joints seemingly unable to lock into place and her body unable to balance itself while in motion. Her right knee made a loud <em>crack</em> that went unnoticed.</p>
<p>She made sure not to step in any of the patches of algae on her way out.</p>
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